Perfection is a Lie

Any idea of absolute perfection that is sold to us by the media, (including social media) and the imagery we conjure up inside of our own minds as a result, is so often a lie.

There really is no such thing as perfect.

Yet we all strive for it. Daily. The perfect body. The perfect relationship. Perfect health. The perfect life. These things that in reality, don’t actually exist. What a way to set ourselves up for failure.

The main reason I have put off starting this blog until now, is because I’ve been waiting for it to be more perfect. I’ve been telling people close to me, for months now, that it’s nearly ready. I’m working on it. Almost there.

A friend messaged me last week and said ‘Em, where is this bloody blog?!’ His message made me laugh, but also encouraged me to take a step back and ask myself  ‘erm…well where is it?!’

The reality was, that I kept getting stuck. Fear had got in my way massively. Fear of releasing this stuff into the world. Stuff that such a big part of me wants to share.

I’m guessing that when you plan to be brutally honest and open about a topic close to your heart its going to trigger an element of fear. But there’s a difference between healthy fear, and fear that puts a complete halt to any movement forward! I was putting a huge amount of pressure on myself for every little bit to be ‘just right’ before I could do this.

I also kept wondering if I needed to wait until I was fully recovered and totally healthy before I could start a blog about health, recovery and healing. That particular fear was holding me back massively. However, once I challenged myself on this thought, I realised that it was absolute rubbish.

I have learned so much over the last fifteen years living with ME. An incredible amount. Whether I am fully recovered, or not, doesn’t change the wonderful validity of those learnings and the possibility that they can help other people.

So once I recognised the fear that was inadvertently holding me back, and that my inner perfectionist was raising her head, I decided to get started. To just do it. Waiting for perfection was going to leave me waiting a very long time.

I realise now, that nothing is perfect, especially not at the beginning of a journey when we take that first step….and that’s OK!!

So when you next find yourself, striving for perfection. Take a step back.

Notice what you are doing.

Embrace any positive feelings or actions that may come from that drive or desire, such as wanting to feel fitter, healthier or improve certain aspects of your life, embrace those elements with love and go about working on them in a gentle way, but let go of the façade of perfection. That striving based on perfection as the end goal, can only ever lead to feelings of dissatisfaction in the present moment and a sense of not being good enough.

The most beautiful bodies, have flaws too. The healthiest people, get tired sometimes. People with seemingly perfect lives, have struggles too.

It’s life.

Life isn’t perfect.

Work with what you have, from where you are. Right now.

Love,

Emma

Thank you John Limpus, for sending me the email that gave me the final push to start this blog…and for unknowingly giving me the title of my first blog post 😉